21.07.2010 The growth in the use of renewable forms of energy is making good progress in the state. Whereas final energy consumption decreased by around five per cent compared to the previous year according to a provisional estimate, renewable energy sources accounted for 30 terawatt hours of the total amount consumed. This has never been achieved before and corresponds to a share of 10.3 per cent of the total final energy consumption in the state. Due to the economic crisis, overall energy consumption decreased but renewable forms of energy remained unaffected and their contribution continued to grow.    

"Eco-forms of energy hit the ten per cent mark for the first time in respect of final energy consumption. This is a very pleasing development because the provision of energy in a way that is more independent of fossil fuels is continuing to make good progress", explained Minister of the Environment Tanja Gönner and Minister of Economics Ernst Pfister today (7 July 2010) in Stuttgart when the new data were presented.

Thanks to this positive development, they continued, Baden-Württemberg is above the national average in its use of renewable forms of energy, which accounted for 10.1 per cent of total consumption. "Eco-forms of energy are playing an increasingly important role in the area of power supply in the state – a fact that is helping to advance the cause of climate protection. At the same time, the dependency on imports of raw materials for use as energy sources is diminishing", said Gönner and Pfister. Last year, hydrodynamic power, wind power, solar energy and bio-energy even increased their share in the gross production of electricity to 15.4 per cent (previous year: 14.6 per cent). According to the energy strategy of the government of Baden-Württemberg, a fifth of the electricity produced is to be covered by renewable forms of energy in the next ten years, said Gönner and Pfister. In view of  the constant growth in eco-forms of energy in the last few years, this target, they continued, could be achieved. However, apart for the further expansion of renewable forms of energy, intelligent power networks would have to be created and powerful energy-accumulation technologies would have to be developed. Moreover, the environment technology offensive started by the state, they went on, was intended to provide fresh impetus. "It is not enough simply to increase the quota of eco-forms of energy." It is also necessary to simultaneously strive towards a situation where renewable forms of energy are provided reliably all year round and 24 hours a day, said  Gönner and Pfister.

The current provisional data under the heading "Renewable forms of energy in Baden-Württemberg 2009", collected on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment and Economics by the Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg (ZSW = centre for solar energy and hydrogen research), can be viewed in the Internet at www.um.baden-wuerttemberg.de or www.wm.baden-wuerttemberg.de.

Source: Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transportation/Ministry of Economics Baden-Württemberg